Recent Grads’ Bladder Sensor Wins Runner-Up Prize in Collegiate Inventors Competition

Two recent biomedical engineering graduates have placed second in the national Collegiate Inventors Competition with a device to help make life easier for people with catheters.

The Augment Health Bladder Management System, created by Stephen Kalinsky and Jared Meyers, was the runner-up in the undergraduate category of the competition. Winning comes with a $5,000 cash prize, the opportunity to meet with a National Inventors Hall of Fame member for mentorship and advice, and a patent acceleration certificate from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

“We are incredibly excited about winning the competition. It’s a huge validation for our entire community that’s been supporting us on our journey,” said Meyers, who along with Kalinsky graduated from the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering in May.

Meyers and Kalinsky created an app-connected, noninvasive bladder sensor that fits between a catheter and catheter valve and sends notifications to a smartphone or wearable device, like a smart watch, when the user’s bladder is full.

The pair said they want to help people with spinal-cord injuries or other neurological conditions that require long-term use of catheters.

“We founded Augment Health, Inc. to commercialize this invention so we can get it into people’s hands and help them to achieve improved peace of mind and quality of life,” Meyers said. “We are currently part of ZeroTo510’s medical device accelerator program to amplify our efforts and plan to pursue regulatory go-ahead and reimbursement to launch it on the market. Winning this competition will help us to move even faster toward our goals.”

Organized by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the Collegiate Inventors Competition recognizes the country’s top young inventors. Judges included a panel of Hall of Fame members and officials from the patent office. They selected a winner and runner-up in undergraduate and graduate divisions, and public votes awarded a People’s Choice prize.

“We’re proud to represent Georgia Tech and all of the people we’ve worked with to get to this stage,” Meyers said. “We are extremely grateful for the Georgia Tech community as a whole as well as the Coulter Biomedical Engineering Department and the CREATE-X program. We would like to specifically thank our mentor Marty Jacobson for his guidance from the very beginning and all of his continued support with our project.”